…As Council is set to establish Common Facility Centre in Gombe to support value-chain development
By Umar Kaltungo
Gombe State governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, says his administration is laying an institutional framework to provide the enabling environment for investment and export of agro-allied products in the State.
Governor Yahaya stated this when he visited the Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, (NEPC), in Abuja.
Governor Yahaya, who was at the Corporate Headquarters of the NEPC, as part of his efforts towards forging stronger and strategic partnerships to drive new investment opportunities, told his host that the 1000-hectre Industrial Park in Gombe state, which is designated as a special economic and agro-processing zones, is being set up to facilitate rapid industrialisation and value chain development.
He equally said that the Wawa-Zange Grazing Reserve will help boost livestock production and export, as the vision of his administration is to leverage on the State’s comparative advantage on agriculture and other agro-allied products.
The Governor noted that with a total land mass of over 20 thousand square kilometres and a growing population of about 3.5 million with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over 2.5 million dollars, Gombe State is without a doubt a commercial hub in the North-East geo-political zone.
He added that the strategic location of State at the centre of the North-East also places it in a strong reputation position as the commercial nerve centre since the 1960s, and home to many cottage industries.
He sought for partnership with the agency in his drive to attract investors to Gombe, canvassing that “considering our geographic and strategic advantage, the north-east Warehouse Facility should be housed in Gombe and NEPC should also open its North-East regional office in Gombe. He assured that on its part, the Gombe State government will give all necessary support in that direction.
The NEPC Executive Director, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, said the NEPC is pleased with the contribution of Gombe State towards the production of agricultural products and will do everything necessary to harness products that have export potential from the State for such as tomatoes, sunflower, groundnuts, maize, sesame seeds among others.
He added that the Council will work with Gombe State to holistically look at areas that can benefit the State and its people, just as he disclosed plan to establish a Common Facility Centre in the State, in order to support value-chain development in preparation for export to ensure that products meet international standards.
The NEPC boss said for the country to exit the current economic challenges, the build-up has to be from the States, because according to him, unlike the Federal Government, the second-tier of Government has all it takes to create jobs and boost the economy.
He said when the Council launched the ‘Zero Oil Plan’, which encourages the country to survive out of oil proceeds, not many Nigerians believed in it, adding that however, it is gradually becoming clearer that sooner or later the world will have nothing to do with the black gold.
He explained that it is to guard this development that the Council introduced the 22 strategic sectors which encourage Nigerians to increase production and productivity in order for the country to build a virile economy that will sustain the Nigerian State.
